Vehicle multimedia interfaces are known which allow connecting a third-party portable device to a vehicle head unit for multimedia playback. For example, such vehicle multimedia interfaces can be configured to receive analogue audio data or to operate according to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard and establish data connection to and from the vehicle head unit and the third-party portable device. A user can select multimedia tracks stored on the portable device for playback in the vehicle. Then, the portable device provides the multimedia data to the vehicle head unit. For example, a user interface of a vehicle of the vehicle multimedia interface may be configured to allow said selecting. For example, the user interface may be a display, buttons, a touch panel, etc. For example, the third-party portable device may be a cellular phone, a laptop, a touch pad, etc.
Yet, such vehicle multimedia interfaces face certain restrictions and drawbacks. For example, the data connection established by the vehicle multimedia interface may only offer limited access to the third-party portable device; in other words, the third-party portable device may not be fully integrated into the vehicle electronics. This may have the effect that control of the third-party portable device via the user interface may be difficult to implement and/or only offer restricted choices to a user; for example, not all functionality of the portable device may be accessible by the user via the user interface.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an improved vehicle multimedia system. In particular, a need exists to provide a vehicle multimedia system which allows for a high degree of integration of a portable device.